Ten strange, unexpected, and interesting Star Trek guest stars

Mick Fleetwood

I always imagined that there was some great story or in-joke behind rock legend Mick Fleetwood’s cameo on Star Trek: The Next Generation. The Fleetwood Mac drummer was rendered unrecognizable behind full facial prosthetics and had no lines. It always seemed like a joke, placing a very famous person in a role in which he may as well not be there.

It was, after all, it was a comedic episode. The Enterprise was transporting Antedian dignitaries to a conference, and we find out that Antedians travel in a catatonic state, so Fleetwood didn’t even move for most of the episode. The Antedians is a B-story, while the A-story is a Lwaxana Troi screwball farce. In the episode’s closing moments, Lwaxana reveals that the Antedians plan to blow up the conference with a throwaway line about how their minds are so simple, she can’t help but read them. The joke was that the typical Star Trek drama with malevolent aliens of the week was pushed aside, and basically an afterthought.

Having a famous guest star in a role that was more stage prop than character elevates the joke. Not to mention that the Antedians are among the most ridiculous-looking species’ imagined for Star Trek.

The truth is, he’s a fan, and was just happy to be there. Fleetwood is also famous for being very tall, at 6’5”, his lanky frame gave his character, a member of the Antedean delegation, a truly alien way of moving when he did move.